Politics

A medical marijuana dispensary owner has been named mayor of a small Northern California city in the heart of pot country.

Sebastopol’s City Council selected 36-year-old Robert Jacob as mayor earlier this week.

Jacob runs two pot clinics in Sonoma County, the San Francisco Chronicle reported (http://bit.ly/1iGZrXL). Americans for Safe Access, which advocates for safe and legal access to therapeutic cannabis, called Jacob’s selection as mayor historic and unprecedented.

Jacob started Peace in Medicine, an organization that runs two medical marijuana dispensaries that have more registered patients than Sebastopol has residents.

Jacob has been on the City Council for two years, and most recently was vice mayor. He has worked to create statewide dispensary regulations.

"By addressing social problems such as homelessness, HIV/AIDS and access to medical cannabis, we can shape a better world for ourselves," Jacobs said in a statement.

Sebastopol, which has a population of about 7,500, in 2010 passed an ordinance that allowed two large marijuana gardens for dispensaries and another two "collective" gardens where patients could grow their own weed.